Sundaresan Jayaraman

Biography

 Dr. Sundaresan Jayaraman is Kolon Professor in the School of Materials Science and Engineering with a joint appointment in the Scheller College of Business at the Georgia Institute of Technology. He and his research students have made significant contributions in the following areas: (i) Healthcare Information Systems and Technologies including Wearable Biomedical Systems; (ii) Enterprise Architecture and Modeling Methodologies for Information Systems; (iii) Engineering Design and Analysis of Intelligent Textile Structures and Processes; and (iv) Design and Development of Knowledge‑Based Systems (KBS) for textiles and apparel. His group's research has led to the realization of the world's first Wearable Motherboard™, also known as the “Smart Shirt” (www.smartshirt.gatech.edu). This invention was featured in a Special Issue of LIFE Magazine entitled Medical Miracles for the New Millennium (Fall 1998) as One of the 21 Breakthroughs that Could Change Your Life in the 21st Century. In November 2001, TIME Magazine named the Smart Shirt one of the Best Inventions of the Year 2001. In July 2003, Newsweek Magazine featured it as one of the 10 Inventions That Will Change the World. The first Smart Shirt is currently housed at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, DC. In May 2006, he was named a First Prize Winner (out of 4,200 entries) in the Modern Marvels Invent Now Challenge conducted by The History Channel, The National Inventors Hall of Fame and TIME Magazine. In 2007, it was featured on a program entitled, “2057: The Body” on the Discovery Channel (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-px4MAKREs).     Prior to Georgia Tech, Professor Jayaraman had the privilege of working with Dan Bricklin and Bob Frankston, the Co-Creators of the world’s first spreadsheet – VisiCalc®. VisiCalc was the first “killer app” that transformed the computing industry by bringing computing to the masses through the proliferation of personal computers. During his PhD, he was involved in the design and development of TK!Solver, the world’s first equation-solving program from Software Arts, Inc., Cambridge, MA. He worked there as a Product Manager and then at Lotus Development Corporation (makers of 1-2-3®) in Cambridge, MA. He received his Ph.D. degree from North Carolina State University, in 1984, and the M.Tech and B.Tech degrees from the University of Madras, India, in 1978 and 1976, respectively. Professor Jayaraman is a recipient of the 1989 Presidential Young Investigator Award from NSF for his research in the area of computer‑aided manufacturing and enterprise architecture. In September 1994, he was elected a Fellow of the Textile Institute, (UK). His publications include a textbook on computer-aided problem solving published by McGraw-Hill in 1991 and eight U.S. patents. As Principal Investigator, he has received over $12.43 Million in research funding from a variety of sources including NSF, DARPA, DoD, NIST, CDC, and industry. Dr. Jayaraman served as Technical Editor, Information Technology, for ATI Magazine (now Textile World) from 1995-2003. From May 2000 to October 2004, he was an Editor of the Journal of the Textile Institute and is currently on the Editorial Advisory Board.

Research Interest

 Polymers, Fibers, and Textiles